Origin

The words turban and tulip are from the same source. Turkish people compared the flower of the tulip to the shape of the turban and gave the plant the same name, tūlbend, which they took from Persian dulband. The tulip made a spectacular impression, and cost a spectacular amount of money when it came from Turkey into western Europe in the 16th century. At first forms such as tulipan and tulban existed alongside turban as the name of the headdress, whereas the name of the flower always appeared in the -l- form, and eventually monopolized that spelling.